WHITE PAPER ON THE LAW OF TORTURE AND HOLDING ACCOUNTABLE THOSE WHO ARE COMPLICIT IN APPROVING TORTURE
OF PERSONS IN U.S. CUSTODY
National Lawyers Guild
International Association of Democratic Lawyers
This paper provides the background to the legal issues underpinning the call by the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) to prosecute and dismiss from their jobs people like then Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Choon Yoo,1 then Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee2 and others who participated in the drafting of memoranda claimed to be based on sound legal precedent that purported to authorize the commitment of acts of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment3 on behalf of the U.S. government. The memoranda were written at the request of high ranking U.S. officials in order to insulate them from the risk of future prosecution for subjecting detainees in U.S. custody to torture. By logical extension, this paper explains why all those who approved the use of torture and committed it—whether ordering it, approving it or giving purported legal advice to justify it—are subject to prosecution under international and U.S. domestic law.
The prohibition of torture is a jus cogens norm (these are principles of international law so fundamental that no nation may ignore them or attempt to contract out of them through treaties). The United States has consistently prohibited the use of torture through its Constitution, laws, executive statements and judicial decisions and by ratifying international treaties that prohibit it. The prohibition against torture applies to all persons in U.S. custody in times of peace, armed conflict, or state of emergency. In other words, the prohibition is absolute. However, the legal memoranda drafted by government lawyers purposely or recklessly misconstrued and/or ignored jus cogens, customary international law, and various U.S. treaty obligations in order to justify the unjustifiable, claiming that clearly unlawful interrogation “techniques” were lawful.
I. THE PROHIBITION AGAINST TORTURE IS A JUS COGENS NORM.
The prohibition against torture is a jus cogens norm.4 Jus cogens are defined as norms “accepted and recognized by the international community of states as a whole ... from which no derogation is permitted…”5 In international criminal law, the legal duties that arise in connection with crimes designated as violations of jus cogens norms include the duty to prosecute or extradite, the non-applicability of statutes of limitations, the non-applicability of any immunities up to and including those enjoyed by Heads of State, the non-applicability of the defense of "obedience to superior orders" and universal jurisdiction over perpetrators of such crimes. Other jus cogens norms include the prohibitions against slavery, genocide, and wars of aggression. Jus cogens norms, like customary international law norms, are legally binding. No affirmative executive act may undercut the force of these prohibitions nor may a legislature legalize crimes designated as violating jus cogens norms or immunizing from prosecution those responsible. Jus cogens norms differ from norms which have attained the status of customary international law by dint of their universal and non-derogable character and the fact that jus cogens norms are peremptory, that is, they trump any other inconsistent international law.
While legal scholars often differ as to what specific acts can be defined as being subject to jus cogens norms, it is beyond dispute that the prohibition against torture has attained that status.6 The right to be free from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment was recognized in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). It is contained in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 5(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights. Torture is also outlawed under the Rome Statute which created the International Criminal Court (ICC). The U.S. Army Field Manual 34-52 makes clear that techniques of interrogation are to be established under the rules laid out by The Hague and Geneva Conventions. Field Manual 34-52 is unambiguous in its prohibition on the use of torture and any other force in interrogation of prisoners.
Article 17 of the 1949 Geneva Convention III prohibits physical or mental torture and any other coercive action against prisoners of war, and Article 130 classifies violation of Article 17 as a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from torturing protected persons (Article 32) or engaging in all other “measures of brutality” (Article 283). Common Article 3 (that is, Article 3 in each of the conventions) prohibits torture as well as the separate crimes of inhuman, humiliating and degrading treatment against those who are taking no active part in hostilities, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, or those who are hors de combat.
The 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention or CAT) codified the prohibitions against torture into specific rules. The Convention “prohibits torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” It criminalizes torture and seeks to end impunity for any torturer by denying him all possible refuge. The Convention is categorical: “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war, or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.”
The prohibition against torture has attained jus cogens status. This means we must examine the actions of Yoo and the others who sought to provide legal cover for acts in violation of the prohibition through a lens which acknowledges that they violated a norm which the world has universally declared to be part of the highest and most compelling law. Because it is a jus cogens norm, no world leader has the right to resort to torture, nor may a legislature attempt to legalize it, nor may an official of the government use it. Indeed, if the rule of law is to have real meaning, it demands severe consequences for anyone who transgresses.
THE CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE, THE TORTURE STATUTE,
AND THE WAR CRIMES ACT
As noted above, one of the processes which helped confer jus cogens status on torture was the ratification by the U.S. of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)7 and the Torture Convention.8 The U.N. General Assembly adopted the CAT in 1984 to strengthen existing prohibitions against torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.9 On October 21, 1994, the United States ratified Convention, which expressly prohibits torture under all circumstances. The 1999 decision by the House of Lords to extradite Augusto Pinochet for prosecution for promoting and condoning acts of torture committed during his regime was based in part on the existence of the Convention and its contribution to the recognition of torture as a jus cogens norm.10
Torture is defined in Article 1 of the Convention as:
1. Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
2. This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.
Under Article 2:
1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.
As a ratified convention, the CAT is a treaty which, through Article VI, Section 2 of the United States Constitution (Supremacy clause), is “the Supreme Law of the Land” in domestic U.S. law. Pursuant to the dictates of the CAT, Congress criminalized torture for actions outside the United States.11 The language of the Torture Statute tracks to a large degree the language of the Torture Convention and punishes conspiracy to commit torture as well as torture itself. While the U.S. included various “understandings12 along with its ratification of the Convention, international law does not permit such “understandings” to undercut the force and language of the Convention.13 While the Torture Statute covers acts committed outside the United States (as opposed to the CAT, which is not site specific as to the place the torture occurs), the opinions sought from Yoo and the others in 2002 address actions taken by U.S. officials outside the United States, in the various “black sites” as well as bases in Afghanistan and Guantánamo. At that time, the administration argued that Guantánamo was outside of the United States and beyond the reach of any U.S. court.14
THE UNITED STATES PROHIBITS TORTURE AND
OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit declared more than 25 years ago that the prohibition against torture is universal, obligatory, specific, and definable.15 Since then, every U.S. circuit court has held that torture violates universal and well-established customary international law, with the Eleventh Circuit finding that official torture is now prohibited by the law of nations, including U.S. law.16
In 2004, Congress declared that "the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States and the applicable guidance and regulations of the United States Government prohibit the torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of foreign prisoners held in custody of the United States" here or abroad. Congress also affirmed the requirement that "no detainee shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment that is prohibited by the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." Congress reiterated "the policy of the United States to . . . investigate and prosecute, as appropriate, all alleged instances of unlawful treatment of detainees in a manner consistent with the international obligations, laws, or policies of the United States."17
BUSH'S ORDER AND THE TORTURE MEMOS
"A common plan to violate customary and treaty-based international law concerning the treatment and interrogation of so-called terrorist and enemy combatant detainees and their supporters captured during the U.S. war in Afghanistan emerged within the Bush administration in 2002."18
On February 7, 2002, President Bush announced that Geneva's Common Article 3 did not apply to alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda members. Bush said, however, "As a matter of policy, the United States Armed Forces shall continue to treat detainees humanely and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva." But the Torture Convention and jus cogens absolutely prohibit torture in all circumstances.
In the summer of 2002, the Pentagon sought advice on whether the army was bound by the Field Manual in interrogating prisoners at Guantánamo. An advisory memo written by Colonel Diane Beaver, a U.S. Army lawyer, tried to find a way around the Field Manual constraints on interrogation.19 Before issuing her opinion, Colonel Beaver was visited by lawyers from Washington D.C. including David Addington, Jim Haynes, and others who made it clear that those at the top of the administration sought an outcome which would permit deviation from the strictures of the field manual.20
Her advisory opinion concluded that international obligations are irrelevant and that because the detainees were not prisoners of war the Geneva Conventions did not apply. Before Colonel Beaver issued her opinion, the Justice Department was providing advice on whether interrogation techniques which were assumed to be legal under U.S. law could nonetheless expose the U.S. to prosecution at the ICC21 or violate the CAT.22
There are many lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel, the Justice Department and elsewhere cognizant of the legal – indeed, constitutional – obligations the U.S. has under ratified treaties. The administration, however, turned to political appointees, including then Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo and then Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee for these opinions.
On January 9, 2002, Yoo submitted a memorandum opinion titled “Application of Treaties and Laws to al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees.” Co-authored with Special Counsel Robert J. Delahunty, the memo purported to address “the effect of international treaties and federal laws on the treatment of individuals detained by the U.S. Armed Forces during the conflict in Afghanistan.”
This memo argued that the president was not bound by international laws in the war on terror. It stated that “any customary international law of armed conflict in no way binds, as a legal matter, the president or the U.S. Armed Forces concerning the detention or trial of members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.” The memo found it proper to deny the protections of international laws to detainees and to exempt from liability those who denied such protections.
Yoo also authored a memorandum opinion dated August 1, 2002, titled “Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. ss. 2340-2340A.” This opinion was addressed to Alberto Gonzales from Jay Bybee, but was in fact drafted by Yoo.
In the August 1, 2002 memo, Yoo/Bybee changed the definition of torture contained in U.S. law and the CAT, limiting it to those acts inflicting pain of equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death. This definition is much narrower than our laws provide in the CAT and the Torture Statute.
Recently, a March 14, 2003 Yoo memorandum opinion has surfaced titled “Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside the United States.” This 81-page memo again reiterates that the president is not bound by federal laws. “Such criminal statutes, if they were misconstrued to apply to the interrogation of enemy combatants, would conflict with the Constitution's grant of the Commander in Chief power solely to the president.” Yoo states that the president is not bound by laws that prohibit torture, assault, maiming, stalking, and war crimes. The opinion applies the restrictions imposed by treaties against torture to circumstances leading to death.
The memo does not recognize the prohibition of torture as a jus cogens norm, but wrongly declares that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion. Yet more than a century ago, in Paquete Habana, the Supreme Court held that customary international law is part of the laws of the United States that must be ascertained and applied by the judiciary.23 In 1984, Justice O'Connor wrote that power "delegated by Congress to the Executive Branch" and a relevant congressional-Executive "arrangement" must not be "exercised in a manner inconsistent with . . . international law."24
And finally, the memo suggests several defenses (military necessity and self defense) for those brought up on criminal charges for violating laws during interrogations, notwithstanding the jus cogens norm, the Geneva Conventions' clear command that military necessity does not justify treatment Geneva prohibits, and CAT's absolute prohibition on torture.
1 Yoo is currently a Professor of Law at the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. The NLG is not advocating that Yoo be dismissed for engaging in lawful First Amendment Speech as a Professor of Law. On the contrary, the Guild is calling for Yoo’s prosecution, disbarment, and dismissal for his actions as Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
2 Bybee is currently a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
3 What is commonly referred to as the Convention Against Torture, as well as other treaties to which the U.S. is a party, in fact prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The term “torture” will be generally used in this paper, but no discussion of the prohibitions should be limited to it.
4 See, e.g., Siderman de Blake v. Republic of Argentina, 965 F.2d 699, 714 (9th Cir. 1992); Regina v. Bow Street Metro. Stipendiary Magistrate Ex Parte Pinochet Ugarte (No. 3), [2000] 1 AC 147, 198; see also Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States § 702(d) (“torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment”) reporters' note 5.
5 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, May 23, 1969, art. 53, 8 I.L.M. 679, 698-99 (1969).
6 See Siderman de Blake v. Republic of Argentina, 965 F.2d 699, 717 (9th Cir. 1992) ("The right to be free from official torture is fundamental and universal, a right deserving of the highest status under international law, a norm of jus cogens.") ; Restatement, supra note 4; Human Rights Committee (of the ICCPR), General Comment No. 24, para. 8, U.N. Doc. CCPR/c/21/REV.1/add.6 (1994) (also noting that attempted reservations to the ICCPR that would permit torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are void as a matter of law).
7 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 7, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (ratified by the United States on June 8, 1992).
8 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dec. 10, 1984, art. 8, S. Treaty Doc. No. 100-20, (1988), 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 G.A. Res. 39/46, U.N. GAOR, 39th Sess., Supp. No. 51, at 197, U.N. Doc. A/39/51 (1984), reprinted in 23 I.L.M. 1027 (1984).
9 See J. Herman Burgers & Hans Danelius, A Handbook on the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1 (1988).
10 Regina v. Bartle, 2 W.L.R. 827 (H.L.) (March 24, 1999).
11 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A. §2340 provides in full:
As used in this chapter--
(1) "torture" means an act committed by a person acting under color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
§2340A provides in full:
(a) Offense.--Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(b) Jurisdiction.--There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited in subsection (a) if--
(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender.
(c) Conspiracy.--A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.
12 “The United States understands that, in order to constitute torture, an act must be specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering and that mental pain or suffering refers to prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from (1) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering; (2) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality; (3) the threat of imminent death; or (4) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality.” S. Exec. Rep. No. 101-30, at 36 (1990).
13 “Understandings” differ from “reservations.” An "understanding" cannot change an international legal obligation under the Convention. Under international law, where there is conflict between international obligation and domestic law, international law will govern. See P. Sands, Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules - From FDR’s Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush’s Illegal War, p. 213, Penguin Books (2006). While Yoo in his Commentary in UC Berkeley Point of View dated January 5, 2005, claimed that the Senate in ratification narrowed the definition of torture in the convention in these “understandings” and the criminal statutes, this is not true. Section 2 of Article 1 of the CAT does not prohibit national legislation which would give wider protection. It is clear that the Convention would not tolerate national legislation which would give less protection. See Jordan J. Paust, Beyond the Law: The Bush Administration’s Unlawful Responses in the “War” on Terror 33-34, 189-91 nn.59, 63.
Moreover, "understandings" that violate the object and purpose of a treaty are void, according to the Article 19(2) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The claim that treatment of prisoners that would amount to torture under CAT does not constitute torture under the U.S. "understanding" violates the object and purpose of CAT, which is to ensure that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
14 Actions taken by military personnel or any other person, who commit or have committed torture, would be covered by the War Crimes Act,18 U.S.C. §2441 et seq. which states: “Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death. Subsection (b) provides that the circumstances are that “the person committing such war crime or the victim of such war crime is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States or a national of the United States.” In 18 U.S.C. §2441(b) “war crime” is defined as follows:
As used in this section the term ‘war crime’ means any conduct-
(1) defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party;
(2) prohibited by Article 23, 25, 27, or 28 of the Annex to the Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907;
(3) which constitutes a violation of common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva, 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party and which deals with non-international armed conflict ....
15 Filartiga v. Peña-Irala, 630 F. 2d 876 (2nd Cir. 1980).
16 Abebe-Jira v. Negewo, 72 F.3d 844, 847 (11th Cir. 1996). See also e.g. Kadic v. Karadzic, 70 F.3d 232, 243 (2d Cir. 1995) (noting that torture is prohibited by "universally accepted norms of international law") (quoting Filartiga); Hilao v. Marcos: In re Estate of Ferdinand Marcos, Human Rights Litigation, 25 F.3d 1467, 1475 (9th Cir. 1994) (declaring that torture is a specific, universal, and obligatory norm of international law); Siderman de Blake v. Republic of Argentina, 965 F.2d 699, 717 (9th Cir. 1992) ("[I]t would be unthinkable to conclude other than that acts of official torture violate customary international law. And while not all customary international law carries with it the force of a jus cogens norm, the prohibition against official torture has attained that status."); Mehinovic v. Vuckovic, 198 F. Supp. 2d 1322 (N.D. Ga. 2002) (holding that torture is a well-recognized violation of customary international law and U.S. law), overruled on other grounds by Aldana v. Del Monte Fresh Produce, N.A., Inc., 416 F.3d 1242 (11th Cir. 2005); Doe v. Islamic Salvation Front, 993 F. Supp. 3, 8 (D.D.C. 1998) (declaring that international and U.S. law prohibit torture); Doe v. Unocal, 963 F. Supp. 880, 890 (C.D. Cal. 1997) (recognizing that international and U.S. law prohibit torture); Xuncax v. Gramajo, 886 F. Supp. 162 (D. Mass.1995) (declaring that torture is a well-recognized violation of customary international and U.S. law); Paul v. Avril, 901 F. Supp. 330 (S.D. Fla. 1994) (imposing civil liability for acts of torture).
17 Sense of Congress and Policy Concerning Persons Detained by the United States, Pub. L. No. 108-375, 118 Stat. 1811, § 1091 (a)(1)(6), (a)(8), (b)(2) (Oct. 28, 2004).
18 Paust, supra note 13, at 1.
19 Colonel Beaver was relying on Bush’s executive order of February 7, 2002, which stated that the detainees at Guantánamo were not prisoners of war and therefore allegedly not covered under the Geneva Conventions.
20 The importance of this meeting, which occurred in Guantanamo, is to contradict the administration’s original story that requests for permission to use torture, euphemistically referred to as enhanced interrogation techniques, came from the bottom up. The new book by Philippe Sands, entitled Torture Team, shows the decision to seek to use these methods came from the very top and that significant pressure was placed on Beaver to write an opinion that provided justification for what Addington and others wanted to do.
21Although the United States has not ratified the Rome Statute, violations of the statute in countries which have ratified it could subject persons within the territory to prosecution.
22 It is now known from the chronology provided by Philippe Sands in his recent Vanity Fair article entitled “Green Light” that the lawyers for the president, vice president and secretary of defense, to wit: Addington, Haynes, Gonzales, Yoo and Bybee, met in Guantánamo to discuss the use of various interrogation techniques which were being proposed to be used on various detainees. It is also now known from recent news reports that there were meetings at the White House in which the specific interrogation/torture techniques to be applied to various detainees were discussed and approved.
ABC News reported last month that Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, and John Ashcroft met in the White House and micromanaged the torture of terrorism suspects by approving specific torture techniques such as waterboarding. When asked, Bush admitted, "yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
23 175 U.S. 677 (1900).
24 TransWorldAirlines v. Franklin Mint Corp., 466 U.S. 243, 261 (1984)(O'Connor, J.). Every relevant federal case has recognized that the President is bound by the laws of war. See, e.g., Paust, supra note 13, at 20-22, and cases cited.
The rest can be found on:http://chun.afterdowningstreet.org.nyud.net:8080/amomentoftruth.pdf
additional information here (the .pdf of Jordan Paust's important paper)
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